The first precision drift tube chambers for the ATLAS muon spectrometer

The muon spectrometer of the ATLAS detector for the Large Hadron Collider is designed to provide a muon transverse momentum resolution of 2-10% for momenta between 6 GeV and 1 TeV over a pseudo-rapidity range of |eta |< 2.7. This required the development of precision drift chambers with a track position resolution of 40 micrometer, the Monitored Drift Tube (MDT) chambers. We report about the construction of the three main types of MDT chambers for ATLAS, test results and the first production experience